Showing posts with label Emlyn Williams. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Emlyn Williams. Show all posts
Friday, July 03, 2009
The Epic That Never Was
An account of the making of the unfinished film I, Claudius (GB 1937). - GB 1965. D: Bill Duncalf. SC: Bill Duncalf; Op.: Charles Parnall, David Findlay, David Samuelson, Alan Featherstone, Robert Kauffman; ED: Brian Keene; Narrator: Dirk Bogarde; WITH: Robert Graves, Josef von Sternberg, Merle Oberon (Messalina), Flora Robson (Imperatrice Livia), Emlyn Williams (Caligola), Eileen Corbett (segretaria di edizione), John Armstrong (costumista). In the vintage footage only: Charles Laughton (Claudius); PC: Bill Duncalf per BCC (TV) 35mm. 71’. From: collezionista. - Presenta Janet Bergstrom, earphone translation in Italian, viewed at Cinema Lumière 2, Bologna, 3 July 2009. - A rare 35mm screening of the fine documentary. - I had seen it before on Finnish television in January 1978 ("Minä Claudius", suurelokuva jota ei ollutkaan). - Now, with having seen many Sternberg prints with a duped look, the great revelation was to see this print which looked like it's struck from the original negative. At least, with access to the original negative. - Janet Bergstrom stressed that Sternberg himself was the main editor of his films; this is confirmed in the statement of Eileen Corbett in this documentary. - Thus, the edited footage of I, Claudius is literally the director's cut. - And also the definition of light in the negative has been approved by Sternberg, himself an ASC cinematographer.
Tuesday, October 07, 1997
The Last Days of Dolwyn
/ / GB / 1949 / Williams, Emlyn / drama
Last Days of Dolwyn, The. PC: London Films. A British Lion release. EX: Alexander Korda. P: Anatole de Grunwald. D+SC: Emlyn Williams. DP: Otto Heller. CAST: Edith Evans, Emlyn Williams, Richard Burton. 94’. B&w. English and Welsh gaelic dialogue. BBFC rating: U. Print: National Film and Television Archive. Presented by: Peter Stead. Viewed at SEA, Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 7 October 1997. ** The landmark film of Welsh cinema presents three legendary Welsh performers of three different generations - Edith Evans as the indomitable old lady, Emlyn Williams as the blackguard who wants to drown the village, and Richard Burton in his film debut as a young lover in the midst of the pastoral idyll. He is tongue-tied literally, since his mother tongue is gaelic, and he has to express his feelings in English, in the language of his sweetheart. These three actors carry the film, and Otto Heller knows where to put the camera. Weaknesses include: the factitious plot, the painted sceneries, the cardboard backgrounds, the weak pulse of the narrative, and worst of all, the lack of cinematic rhythm. Though several scenes, especially those with Edith Evans, are great, the film becomes boring. Freud would be intrigued by the final scene where Richard Burton sticks to his mother’s hand, neglecting his sweetheart’s.
Last Days of Dolwyn, The. PC: London Films. A British Lion release. EX: Alexander Korda. P: Anatole de Grunwald. D+SC: Emlyn Williams. DP: Otto Heller. CAST: Edith Evans, Emlyn Williams, Richard Burton. 94’. B&w. English and Welsh gaelic dialogue. BBFC rating: U. Print: National Film and Television Archive. Presented by: Peter Stead. Viewed at SEA, Cinema Orion, Helsinki, 7 October 1997. ** The landmark film of Welsh cinema presents three legendary Welsh performers of three different generations - Edith Evans as the indomitable old lady, Emlyn Williams as the blackguard who wants to drown the village, and Richard Burton in his film debut as a young lover in the midst of the pastoral idyll. He is tongue-tied literally, since his mother tongue is gaelic, and he has to express his feelings in English, in the language of his sweetheart. These three actors carry the film, and Otto Heller knows where to put the camera. Weaknesses include: the factitious plot, the painted sceneries, the cardboard backgrounds, the weak pulse of the narrative, and worst of all, the lack of cinematic rhythm. Though several scenes, especially those with Edith Evans, are great, the film becomes boring. Freud would be intrigued by the final scene where Richard Burton sticks to his mother’s hand, neglecting his sweetheart’s.
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